In a few weeks, the first two members of the new ZEISS Touit family of lenses will be available at dealers. With the extreme wide angle Touit 2.8/12 lens and the standard Touit 1.8/32 lens, both for use on Fujifilm X and Sony NEX cameras, ZEISS is entering the market for compact system cameras (CSC) with autofocus interchangeable lenses. In addition to its innovative optical and mechanical design, this new lens series is characterized by its attractive product design, which has already received several design awards.

Touit 1.8/32 and Touit 2.8/12

The new Touit lenses stand out for their high production quality, which guarantees usage for many years. Like all ZEISS lenses, they offer outstanding imaging performance. Typical for the new family is above all the combination of compactness, light weight and precise, durable mechanics. “The imaging quality and size are the main advantages of Touit,” says Dr. Michael Pollmann, Program Manager at ZEISS Camera Lenses. “The angle of view is identical to corresponding DSLR lenses of APS-C cameras, but the lens is much smaller and lighter.” The metal body underscores the lenses’ robustness and durability. Only the parts that are not relevant for key functions are made of high-quality plastic in order to reduce weight. Full compatibility of the functions with the Sony NEX and Fujifilm X cameras, nine aperture blades for an almost circular bokeh, as well as excellent stray-light absorption through the ZEISS T* anti-reflective coating also distinguish the optical design of the new Touit family of lenses. Focus setting happens through a “focus-by-wire” system, similar to the majority of CSC lenses. Since there are no fixed stops, the lenses do not have a distance scale. Thanks to the lenses’ large focus rotation angle, the user can do very precise manual focusing. To support this, the Fujifilm X cameras offer a distance scale with integrated depth-of-field scale on the camera display or in the electronic viewfinder. The Sony NEX cameras support manual focusing with a comfortable peaking function.

Touit 1.8/32: Awarded with the iF product design award in gold and the red dot design award

The Touit 1.8/32 offers the user an angular field that corresponds to that of natural eyesight (full-frame 35-mm-equivalent focal length: 48 mm). The goal during the development phase was to create an easy-to-use standard lens that the photographer can leave on the camera continuously and which can be used for a wide range of everyday situations. When Paul Rudolph registered the patent for the Planar with Carl Zeiss in Jena in 1896, he could not have imagined that this lens would write photographic history in the following century. Since then the Planar type has been built by many manufacturers in numerous variations. Today it still serves as the foundation for high-performance lenses due to its impressive color correction, speed, flat image field and distortion correction. The Touit 1.8/32 was developed according to a modernized Planar design concept and adapted to meet today’s requirements. Instead of having six lens elements, which is typical for Planar lenses, Touit lenses are equipped with eight lens elements. As a result they offer an even higher performance when used with digital sensors.

The lens can be used in many situations, from travel photography and daily photography like family photos to photo journalism and portraits. The Touit 1.8/32 recently received an iF gold award and red dot product design award for its innovative product design. The recommended retail price of the Touit 1.8/32 will be €670 / US$900 (excl. VAT)*.

First sample photos taken with our Touit 1.8/32 in our Flickr album here.

Touit 2.8/12: Awarded with the iF product design award and the red dot design award

The Touit 2.8/12 offers the most extreme wide angle fixed focal length in the APS-C range and corresponds to a full-frame, 35-mm equivalent focal length of 18 mm. “It is an extremely sophisticated lens which has been equipped with the greatest effort, which was necessary due to the extreme focal length of 12 millimeters,” explains Dr. Pollmann. The lens has 11 lens elements arranged in eight groups and was designed according to the Distagon optics concept. The Distagon type was developed by ZEISS and is today one of the most important and powerful design principles for camera lenses – especially when a large angle of view paired with a low incidence angle on the sensor is required. The Touit 2.8/12 uses the floating elements design with two aspheric lenses and three lenses made of glass with anomalous partial dispersion. Through the modern floating elements design, image errors at different distance settings are compensated. This happens by changing the axial distance of the individual lens elements or lens groups to each other.

The lens is ideal for ambitious nature and architectural photography. Its product design also received an iF and red dot award. The recommended retail price for the Touit 2.8/12 will be €920 / US$1,250 (excl. VAT)*.

First sample photos taken with our Touit 2.8/12 in our Flickr album here.

Available for Fujifilm X-mount and Sony E-mount

As announced at photokina 2012, the Touit 2.8/50 Macro will be added to the family at the end of 2013. Additional focal lengths will follow. Those who are interested can already register on the ZEISS Touit product website here.

All registered customers will be informed as soon as the lenses are available with dealers.